Advocacy group offered $20 million to Trump administration to aid immigrant families

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, speaks during a news conference regarding the separation of immigrant children on July 10, 2018 in Washington, D.C.

Photo: Alex Edelman /Getty Images

WASHINGTON — In dramatic fashion, a San Antonio-based group that provides legal services to immigrants presented the Trump administration with a $20 million check on Tuesday — donated funds it challenged the president to use to reunify families separated by his now-reversed zero-tolerance policy.

With the Capital in the background, officials from RAICES and assorted Democratic lawmakers called on the administration to accept the money and use it to pay bonds to release the detained parents — mostly mothers —of the some 3,000 children who were split up by the government.

“This is a human rights abuse and cause for concern not only here in Congress but among the American people,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said at a news conference. “There is a certain sadism that runs through some of the people there,” he added, referring to the White House.

The donation gesture — accompanied by a sweepstakes-style check made out to the Department of Homeland Security — happened on the same day that was the deadline set by a judge for the government to reunify all separated children under age 5 to their parents. The Trump administration has asked for more time, saying it can’t fully comply with the order.

Founded in 1986 in San Antonio, RAICES — it stands for Refugee And Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services — has found itself at the center of the national maelstrom over the separation of immigrant families.

What was once a low-profile nonprofit offering free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and asylum-seekers morphed into a global phenomenon, once audio recordings of crying children and images of kids huddled in cages in detention centers surfaced.

A Facebook campaign to raise money for the immigrant families quickly went viral, and RAICES found itself sitting atop a growing pile of millions, as Americans from Silicon Valley to the Rio Grande Valley found an outlet for their outrage over the plight of immigrant families.

The $20 million is targeted for legal representation for unaccompanied minors and for bond payments to enable parents to be released from detention centers so they can be reunited with their children, according to a RAICES news release.

Bonds often costs between $5,000 and $10,000; the $20 million could pay for about 2,500 people, officials said.

Jonathan Ryan, head of the advocacy group, admonished the administration for separating families.

“(We’re) uniquely positioned to take on the task of paying bonds for parents separated from their children, one by one,” he said. “RAICES will do it, but the administration forced us into this position, and we demand that they end this now…We will write every single individual bond check. The administration’s actions have already put a a moral stain on the United States, and failure to accept this bond check will only delay and put reunification at risk.”

Under a ruling by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw of the Southern District of California, the government has until July 26 to return all other minor detained children, including those 5 and older, to their families.

Castro said the fact that the administration was expected to reunite only 54 of the 102 children under age 5 by Tuesday’s deadline is a “cause for concern not only in Congress but among the American people.”

“Judge Sabraw should appoint a special master to take over this process,” he said. “We need answers, timelines, and details regarding reunification and we won’t rest easy until we know these children are back with their loved ones.”

Joining Castro on at the Capital’s front lawn was Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, who said of the separation of immigrant families: “This cruelty reached a visceral level that we have not reached in the modern history of this country.”

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, like Castro a prospective candidate for the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nomination, said the nation has arrived at “a moral moment in American history. It is not a partisan moment, it is a moral moment.”

And U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-California, said Congress should put aside business other than monitoring reunification of families.

“We shouldn’t do another thing under this dome until we can look each and every parent in the eye and say we are doing our best to bring your child back to you,” said Swalwell, who brought his year-old son to the gathering.

Later in the day, RAICES started a 24-hour “People’s Filibuster to #ReuniteEveryChild” protest next to the White House, calling on Trump and the Department of Homeland Security to accept the $20 million check.

On its website, RAICES has posted a fundraising message next to boxes where donors can select a dollar amount to contribute.

“Trump, take our ransom — the American people.”

With offices across the state, RAICES has 130 attorneys, legal assistants and support staff who provide consultations and a host of other legal services.

Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje has been a reporter for more than 30 years. She began her career as a calendar listings/file clerk at the now-closed San Antonio Light, where she went on to write for the Sunday magazine She then spent eight years writing features for the Houston Chronicle.

She returned to her hometown in 2001 and has worked at the Express-News since then in various capacities – columnist, feature writer, social services reporter. She currently covers general assignments for the Metro section.

She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in English from the University of Texas at San Antonio and has won a number of local, state and national journalism awards during her career.